Volante Guitars: Custom Guitars That Give Back (Interview)

Passion drives us.

Passion is what David Volante describes as the impetus behind Volante Guitars. A player since thirteen, he was so enamored by guitars, that playing them wasn’t enough. He had to build them. Recently, I had a chance to talk with David for TheToneKing.com and find out what makes Volante Guitars different from other manufacturers.

 

1271590_orig“The only limit is your imagination,” David mentions when I ask him what custom options are available. “You can choose to take a VS-1 and change the color and inlays. Or you can design your own body shape. Basically anything you can design, we can make.” That took me a while to digest. Most custom shop guitars are the same shape and styles as the rest of the lines. You just get to pick the color. But, Volante offers a complete customizable guitar, down to the very shape of the guitar.

David assured me that his company is sympathetic to people who are working in a budget. “We will do our best to discount the customizations as much as possible. We understand how much emotion and effort can go into a personalized guitar. Our custom shop can work within your budget. We try our best to help our customers no matter how much money they have.”

David seems to understand that “emotion and effort,” because that’s how he got into building guitars in the first place. When he was 7763606_origfourteen, he started selling guitars on eBay to get enough money to buy the woods that he would need to build his own guitars. It took him some time, but two years ago, his dream was realized when he formed the company that he always wanted.

“What sets Volante Guitars apart from other manufacturers is the quality of craftsmanship that goes into each guitar. We use machines to cut the general shapes, but everything else is done by hand. Our luthiers are highly trained with many years of experience. That way, we can ensure top quality craftsmanship for an affordable price.”

“I take particular pride in our custom shop. As a player myself, I have always wanted to create my own personal guitar but could never afford one. That’s why I started Volante guitars custom shop with middle and high quality guitars in mind: To keep the price reasonable and offer players a completely customizable guitar.”

2146160_origWhen I asked David how he is able to keep his costs so low, he shared that his business only allows itself modest profits while focusing on giving players what they want in a guitar. “We believe through this approach, quality and price will be more than enough to have people buy them.”

It also helps that, while some manufacturers use contracted factories, Volante Guitars has its own private factory to build their guitars. If you want something done right, you do it yourself.

Volante Guitars offers a broad range of electric and acoustic guitars. The Standard Series offers six distinct body shapes, The Professional Series includes four, and the Classic series has three. Outside of the custom shop, the Standard Series has the most options with Classic or Flame Maple tops and solid, trans, or hot-rodded colors. Of course, if you’re tastes veer towards more of the classic, the Classic Series keeps it old school with three body styles with their most iconic colors.

Recently, TheToneKing.com had a chance to check out the VS-1 FM. Before we did, I wanted to get David’s input on the guitar. “The VS-1 FM is made with a Mahogany body and neck with a flamed maple top and rosewood fretboard. For electronics it has Volante Standard pickups, which are our own brand of pickups maximized to create the best possible sound in most genres. It also has Volante Standard Tuners, which are very good at holding in tune for long periods of playing.”

Surprised, I wanted to clarify if Volante Guitars manufactures their own pickups and gears in house. “ Yes. We manufacture our own pickups and tuners so that we can keep costs low but also to keep better control over the manufacturing process. We wanted to avoid using hasty and cheap manufacturing methods that make muddy sounding pickups and tuners that slip out of tune.”7624441_orig

Considering that the VS-1 FM is one of David’s favorites, it was appropriate that TheToneKing.com took a look. A classic looking single cut style with a Flamed Maple top that comes standard with a Sunburst or a Tobacco Burst and classic inlays, the VS-1 FM is a classic ride that’s easy on the wallet.

As if offering quality custom guitars at a beyond-reasonable price wasn’t enough, Volante Guitars isn’t just looking for customers, they’re looking to build a community. Take a look at their “Give Back” program. The way it works is simple. You register on Volanteguitars.com to become a commissioned member, enter your email and Paypal address, and you get a coupon code. If anyone buys a Volante guitar using your coupon code, you get $30.

Which is totally badass, but it gets better.

If five guitars are bought using your coupon code, you have the option of using that $150 as full-on payment for your very own Custom Volante Guitar and matching case. Where else can you get a quality custom guitar for $150 bucks?

3741692_orig“We started the ‘Give Back’ program because of what I witnessed in Singapore two years ago. I saw what the policies of their government did for the people. One of the ways they made their society so prosperous was that they gave citizens a stake in the country, and that stuck with me when I formed my company. I want to give customers and fans a stake in the company, giving them the chance to grow and profit with the company.

Nobody understands passion more than musicians. It drives us to spend hours every day honing our skills and convinces us to spend our hard earned paychecks on new gear. Passion drives us to build from the ground up.

Whether it’s customizing our own guitars to be that ultimate dream guitar or it’s creating a company that lets its customers do the same, it’s the passion that gets us going. Hell, passion is what built TheToneKing.com, and it’s what keeps us going year after year. And, we’ll DSC05158always be on the look out for manufacturers who exhibit that same commitment.

And, you can see that commitment with Volante Guitars. “We are a company that was built by a musician that works truly with the musician in mind. Whether it be our affordable custom shop, our give back program or just our standard production lines, you will know that you are getting great quality and personal service from our company.”

Volante Guitars can be ordered from their website: VolanteGuitars.com 

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About the Author: Marc published his first novel Becoming in 2010. It’s a kick-ass book with monsters and dreams and stuff, and you should buy it. Since then, he’s written thousands of articles for TheToneKing.com, many of which have been picked up for circulation by manufacturers and other news outlets. His next book, Drugs and Pancakes, should be available early 2014 if his alcoholic editor can find time to work on it in-between destroying his liver and screaming about punctuation. He graduated from Roosevelt University with honors, which means that he’s not as dumb as he looks. He’s been playing guitar for over 25 years, which is almost twice as long as most of his students have been alive.

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